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An hour later Zsadist was in the cellar at the Brotherhood'sfurnace in the base was a relic frorade

Plus, it took effort to keep the coal burning, and doggen loved regular duties The more chores, the better

The great iron furnace's belly had a littlein the front, one lass, and on the other side flames rolled, lazy and hot

"Zsadist?"

He rubbed his face and didn't turn around at the sound of the familiar fe to do what he was about to, and the urge to bolt was ripping him up

He cleared his throat "Hi"

"Hi" There was a pause, and then Mary said, "Is that empty chair next to you for me?"

Now he twisted around Mary was standing at the bottom of the cellar stairs, dressed as she usually was, in khakis and a Polo sweater On her left wrist was an enorold Rolex, and she had small pearls in each of her earlobes

"Yeah," he said "Yeah, it isthanks for co"

Mary walked over, her loafersnoise on the concrete floor When she sat down on the lawn chair, she repositioned it so it faced him and not the furnace

He rubbed his skull trim

As silence meandered around, a blower came on across the wayand upstairs so in the back of the kitchen

Eventually, because he felt like a fool for not saying anything, he held up one of his wrists "I need to practice what I' to say to Nalla when she asks about these I justI need to have soht thing, you know?"

Mary nodded slowly "Yes, I do"

He turned back to the furnace and re the Mistress's skull in it Abruptly he realized that was the equivalent of V's ashing the place Bella had been hurt in, wasn't it You couldn't burn a castle downbut there had been a kind of cleansing by fire nonetheless

What he hadn't done was the other half of the healing stuff

After a while Mary said, "Zsadist?"

"Yeah?"

"What are those s?"

His frowned and flicked his eyes over to her, thinking, as if she didn't know? But thenwell, she had been a human Maybe she didn't "They're slave bands I wasa slave"

"Did it hurt when they were put on you?"

"Yes"

"Did the saive them to you?"

"No, my owner's hellren did that My ownershe put the bands on me He was the one who cut my face"

"How long were you a slave?"

"A hundred years"

"How did you get free?"

"Phury Phury got "

"Were you hurt while you were a slave?"

Z sed hard "Yes"

"Do you still think about it?"

"Yes" He looked down at his hands, which suddenly were in pain for so theers were about to snap off at the knuckles

"Does slavery still happen?"

"No Wrath outlawed it As a ift to me and Bella"

"What kind of slave were you?"

Zsadist shut his eyes Ah, yes, the question he didn't want to answer

For a while it was all he could do to force himself to stay in the chair But then, in a falsely level voice, he said, "I was a blood slave I was used by a female for blood"

The quiet after he spoke bore down on hiht

"Zsadist? Can I put my hand on your back?"

His head did soentle palhtly on his shoulder blade She moved it in a slow, easy circle

"Those are the right answers," she said "All of them"

He had to blink fast as the fire in the furnace'sbecame blurry "You think?" he said hoarsely

"No I know"

Epilogue Six months later

"And what is going on in here with all this noise, precious one?"

Bella walked into the nursery and found Nalla standing up in her crib, hands locked on the rail, little face red and bunched tight fro had been pitched out onto the floor: the pillow, the stuffed toys, the blanket

"Sounds like your world is ending again," Bella said as she scooped up her wailing daughter and looked at the debris "Was it so they said?"

Attention just made the tears come faster and harder